Who was the Beast of Barnsley? Duh, Reg Chapman, obvs.
Prior to the release of Radio Stars’ first album in 1977, the British press decided that they would make a bit of a splash about the Beast of Barnsley. Radio Stars decided that they would in turn make a bit of a splash about the newspapers making a bit of a splash about him, and so it all turned out very nicely for everybody. Even for the Beast’s cousin, who once approached the band on tour to tell them how proud he was that someone had written a song about his beastly relative.
Here’s what the (British, Murdoch-owned populist rag) Sun said on November 16th 1977:
‘RAPE BEAST’ SONG IN STORM
Protest over punk disc, by Martin Sharpe
A punk rock song about the exploits of the Beast of Barnsley, rapist Reg Chapman, caused a storm yesterday. Chapman’s heartbroken mother fainted when the heard that punk rock band Radio Stars had recorded a song about her jailed son. Now she is demanding that the song – called simply the Beast of Barnsley – due to be released on an LP later this month, should be removed it reaches the record stores.
Part of the lyric, written by the group’s singer and songwriter Martin Gordon, aged 22, says: ‘He’s not fit to go on living. He’s a creature of the night. He’s a creature all right’. Chapman, a 29 year-old steelworker, was jailed for life eight times over on six charges of rape at Manchester Crown Court last month.
The group, whose current single ‘Nervous Wreck’ was yesterday heading towards the pop charts, deny they did it to glorify Chapman. But 54 year-old Mrs Hilda Chapman hit out angrily at the group. She said: “Surely we have been punished enough. It’s wicked that a group should make money out of my son. He has been punished for what he did and we are still suffering. We were just getting over the shock of the court case when this happened. We won’t dare go out to the pub in case this record is played”.
The song’s chorus says: ‘He’s the Beast, he’s the Beast, he’s the Beast of Barnsley, he’s a naughty boy’. The group’s manager, Paul Charles, said “The last thing we want to do is upset people at a family level, but we thought it was a case which could not be ignored.” Mrs Chapman, of Wheatley Close, Barnsley, Yorks, has already asked her lawyer to try to have the record stopped. The group’s LP, entitled ‘Songs for Swinging Lovers’, is to be released on November 25.
Off With His Head – Or Not
When the Sun article appeared, the album was already finished. Thanks to the intervention of Mrs Beast, the band had to return to the studio. Some parts of the second verse (specifically ‘His mum tried chopping Beasty’s head off with a cleaver’) were deemed legally unsubstantiable. The offending words were changed to ‘His mum considered chopping Beasty’s head off with a cleaver’, which more accurately reflected events but which didn’t scan as well. Still, the band were advised by the legal team of Sue, Grabbit & Runne that this would be cheaper in the long run. So much for art.
Why oh Why
From a 1978 Old Grey Whistle Test performance, the Beast turned up again, accompanied by the flinging of more filth at our pop kids:
Once More Unto the Beast, Dear Friends
The Beast also dropped into the 100 Club in London in 2010. And why not?
And Anyway
Here’s what the National Archives have on file. Return to Radio Stars for More Beastliness!